Kim must be stopped, literally

Diplomats sometimes engage in hyperbole to make their points. But what Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday may be the literal truth.

Haley spoke during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. It was called after it was confirmed that North Korea has conducted another test of a nuclear weapon.

North Korean leader Kim Yong Un is “begging for war,” Haley warned.

Coming on the heels of several missile tests — and reports Pyongyang is close to miniaturizing a nuclear weapon so it can be carried on one of the rockets — the weekend test was, in two words, genuinely alarming.

Kim and his predecessors have used saber rattling many times in the past to get what they want from the world community. But this is different. This makes it seem as if North Korean leaders want a major war.

As Haley noted, it is time for every other nation on the globe — including North Korean ally China –to do all in their power to stop Kim’s drive toward military confrontation. He is demonstrating bellicosity far beyond the limits of pressuring other nations. He needs to be stopped, now.